Digging this portion of the thread up from the dead (2012) just to relay my own experience for everyone. I just bought my wagon and previous owner has the dealership invoices showing all new factory wiring loom replacement on both sides of the hatch to repair multiple issues back in January of 2016.

I inspected everything in the hatch and spoiler area and I can't tell if it was new or old, but previous owner and I both knew it has the nonfunctioning rear wiper and rear hatch issue now (right side loom), so I will need to inspect both sides just to see how well the replacement wiring has held up. Not very hopeful at all. Seems like it's about a 3yr fix if that, with the factory-defective harnesses, so I'm very curious about the SenCom patches.

Who has had the SenCom patches installed the longest, and what's the general consensus on how they're doing, how long it'll all supposedly last, etc?

 

I did the Sencom wiring repairs almost 3 years ago - and I've had no issues since. The silicone insulation on that wiring really felt like top quality - very flexible - and the copper wiring was also very flexible - lots of individual filaments in the braid. The silicone should be much more heat resistant than the plastic insulation on factory wiring.

 

Outstanding, thank you for replying. Anyone else who's had it done for years, please weigh in.

 

Hi all, what kind of cable did you use to replace the old ones ? Just one of my cables ( right number plate light) is broken in half. Its the grey with black marking (Cable loom in hinge 4 ). When replacing grey/black marked cable does anyone know what cable to ask for ?

 

I'll recommend you change them all - once one has broken, many more will follow. It's a big job to splice the entire harness, but you won't be doing them all one at a time over the space of a year. Just some friendly advice. The gray / black wire is 0.5mm2, looked it up in my Bentley manual. If possible, purchase wire with silicone jacketing which is more flexible than plastic jacketing, particularly in cold weather. Good luck with your repair.

 

just replying to bookmark this thread as I've just bought the SenCom harness to fix my wife's E61. Sounds easy enough but tedious, guess we'll see! We have no radio reception or remote unlock and the rear glass switch doesn't work.

 

So which side did you buy? There are 2 completely different wiring harness sides FYI. The left must be the window release and the remote entry and also defrost wiring in the glass because these all stopped about a year ago but the brake light and other items all work again since repairing/replacing the right side wiring. It was definitely annoying to do but I did it. I went the solution of cut-pull-splice new length-pull back through-splice other end, then wrap to protect. I also have the new BMW/genuine looms for both sides which is funny but I thought I'd try the splice/fix method first. I did have to make sure to match the wire gauges though, that's the main thing and I think I read that on here somewhere. I used insulated dual end connectors and then heat shrink and then wrapped it all with electrical tape for protection. The added length seems like it ought to help with long term viability too seeing as it's not tight across that hinge anymore.

 

Exactly and OMG I cannot imagine someone thinking they would just fix one wire after all the effort to get in there. I did not try to just join the two ends, I cut it at the break, pulled the inside to the cabin, added maybe 6-8", then fed it back through, then spliced on those ends and let the slack help with the hinge routing. It's been maybe 3-4 years now actually and finally time for the driver side.

 

Bought the SenCom harnesses last night (all three) be a while to get here and then looks like a couple long tedious days of work. My rear defrost isn’t working and I have had the taillight bulb warning. Trying to stay ahead of potential issues.

 

Where are you all buying the harnesses?

Just like @Smith_Jason I'm getting the taillight bulb warning and my rear defrost isn't working.